The present invention relates to an apparatus for cameras permitting the taking of in situ pictures in water.
Due to a natural turbidity from sediments that are dissolved or suspended in water, as are encountered, for example, in flowing water that is affected by tides, but also due to many forms of contamination in lake, river and sea water, it is often possible only with extremely great effort and expense to make adequately sharp underwater photographs or motion pictures, for example of bulkheads, the bottoms of ships, wrecks, or other objects that are located under water. The great difficulty in getting sharp pictures is based essentially on the fact that the particles that are dissolved or suspended in the water make the water so dense that even if the camera is very close to the object that is to photographed, the pictures are so unclear that they are of little or no help in providing any real information about the conditions encountered in the water by the pertaining object. This very disadvantageous and unacceptable condition that is encountered when taking underwater pictures is equally applicable to photograph picture-taking as well as video recording.
As indicated above, it has been attempted to resolve the problem of taking in situ pictures in water by, for example, encasing in a very complicated and expensive manner the region about the object that is to be photographed and then pumping the water out of the casing and thereupon making the necessary photographs in a water-free environment within the casing. The expense of this method increases as the depth of the object that is to be observed in the water increases, and below a certain depth in the water this known method becomes increasingly unattractive due to the increase in pressure and the increasingly more difficult technical problems inherent thereto.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for cameras permitting the taking of in situ pictures in water, which apparatus can be easily attached to underwater cameras, but also to normal cameras that are adapted for the underwater arena, and with which accurate and sharp pictures of the object that is to be observed can be made, whereby the apparatus should have a straightforward construction and furthermore should be capable of being used at nearly any depth of water, with the apparatus also being easy and economical to produce and having both commercial as well as private applications.